The Vanishing of a Species? is Peter Gretener's attempt to discuss and propose solutions for virtually all the developments that threaten human survival. Gretener was a geologist at the University of Calgary who died in 2008. This book is based on an unfinished manuscript and other writings, published posthumously by his son, Nick, in 2010 (like several other reviewers the publisher provided me with and advanced copy). Most contents were writing during the 1970s, with a few more recent additions. He discusses these issues in an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on the natural sciences.
Gretener's greatest strengths seem limited to the natural sciences. Since most of this material was coined in the 1970s, Gretener deserves credit for his fairly prescient concerns regarding humanity's ecological impact: Depletion of natural resources, pollution, overpopulation (real impact of developed and undeveloped countries), technological history and human evolution, are among the myriad of topics discussed. While these concerns were fresh and compelling in the 1970s, over the past two decades these issues have become standard topics (though still highly relevant). Consequently, TVOAS seems trite in the context of 2010: Unfortunately he just doesn't much insight or freshness relative to similar books published over the last several years. And while his ambition and attempted scope is laudable, the subject matter he covers is ultimately far too broad for a 230 page book to provide an adequate discussion of all these subjects.
Gretener also deserves credit for promoting an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and solving these problems. He is exceedingly critical (justifiably I think) of the rigidly defined and fragmented structure of modern academia. He compellingly argues that truly understanding and resolving these multi-faceted issues will require a unified approach. Again, while this was certainly an innovative, nascent concept during the 1970s, over the past couple decades interdisciplinary studies have become somewhat more widespread, making the idea seem less fresh in the context of 2010.
Despite espousing an interdisciplinary approach, Gretener is openly contemptuous of most social sciences and humanities. This is one of his most glaring flaws, especially considering that it's evident he's arguing from a largely uninformed perspective. Understanding 'human nature' is a crucial aspect of his argument, yet many of his statements regarding human behavior are at best dubious, and at worst unfounded presumptions. "As we have seen, according to Ardrey the parameters that shape the behaviour of Homo sapiens are identity, stimulation and security. Considering those around you in these terms saves acquiring a PhD in psychology." (pps 193-94). TVOAS is littered with such dismissive comments towards the social sciences (some criticism is certainly justified, but such thorough dismissal seems unfair and counter-productive). And while it's evident ecological problems are mainly the domain of the natural sciences, social sciences must almost certainly play a partial role in the solutions (even if it's only minor). Gretener's disdain of the social sciences seems hypocritical and perfunctory to his advocacy of interdisciplinary studies.
But Gretener's saves his most astounding shortcoming for last, by proposing a solution so facile and limited it seems like a bad joke. He argues that (along with a broad, interdisciplinary natural science curriculum) these complex problems can be resolved with a human revolution. Gretener proposes that all (or most?) individuals must adhere to 3 principles: 1) Thou Shalt Use Your Head, 2) Thou Shalt Give Your Fellow Man a Fair Shake, 3) Thou Shalt Not Be a Waste Maker.(pps 229-30) [He elaborates only slightly on these vague statements.] He entirely dismisses any and all proposed solutions related to socioeconomics and politics, arguing that all political attempts to resolve these issues have proven entirely unsuccessful; a perspective that seems thoroughly misinformed. [As an example, here in the US rivers and lakes are much cleaner and healthier since the inception of the Environmental Protection Agency.] While not entirely the solution, it's seems entirely implausible to think these problems can be resolved without politics playing a partial role.
As mentioned previously, in the past several years other writers have covered similar subject matter in a more comprehensive and focused manner than Gretener does here. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond is an example the springs immediately to mind. While he doesn't focus on humanity's survival to the same extent, Diamond exhibits a truly comprehensive understanding of (and appreciation for) a tremendous range of academic disciplines, and the ability to synthesize these threads together into a unified analysis.
If Gretener had focused more intently and finished this work by say, 1985, it might have been a truly outstanding, prescient book (or at least significantly better). In the end, The Vanishing of a Species? amounts to little more than a long, meandering conversation with a mediocre, opinionated professor: Occasionally informative, sometimes engaging and entertaining, but mostly a waste of time.
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